We have been having fun with Top Ten Tuesday, so we decided we will do one every week. This bookish meme was hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and has been going since June 2010! Since January 2018 Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s topic is Books that Surprised Me. And I think I can come up with a couple for that topic for sure. This could be a fun one! So let’s jump in.

1. Only a Monster – Vanessa Len

I remember getting this eARC and thinking the synopsis sounded interesting, but not amazing. It had some elements I thought I would like, but I didn’t expect to love it. This was such a wonderful surprise! And now I’m reading an eARC of the third book in the series!!

2. Haikyu – Haruichi Furudate

I got this because of the recommendation of a bookseller in New York. After loving Fence I was looking for something similar, and so began my journey with Hinata. This was a fantastic recommendation, I never expected to love it this much and I went back after an hour or so to get the next volume haha.

3. Foul is Fair – Hannah Capin

This was another eARC. I went it with little expectations, but this book ended up really surprising me. It was a dark but amazing read and I still think about it. I wish more people talked about this one!

4. To Be Taught, If Fortunate – Becky Chambers

I already enjoyed books by Becky Chambers and I love novella’s so I was expecting to enjoy this one. And I did! That was not what surprised me haha. But the ending of this book for sure surprised me, it’s another one I still think about every now and then.

5. Red, White & Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston

And another eARC haha. I went in with low expectations, as you might know I’m not a big romance reader so I wasn’t expecting to love this. But oh my did I end up loving this! I was extremely pleasantly surprised and I have raved about this book on many occasions.

6. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – Stuart Turton

This is such an underrated book! It has a surprising premise and the ending wasn’t anything like I thought it would be. I still try to get people to read this one all the time haha. The title is a bit unfortunate as it gets confused with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but it is a very different read.

7. Warcross – Marie Lu

This was totally a cover buy for me. The naked hardback has a gorgeous rainbow color pattern on it and I simply couldn’t resist. I never expected to like this story as I didn’t really like Legend by Marie Lu. There was even a point where I didn’t think I would actually read this. But then I did and I was pleasantly surprised! I really like competitions in books and this has one so that for sure helped.

8. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before – Jenny Han

This is one of the first YA contemporaries I loved. I started reading this one as I thought I would be able to relate to the main character and I for sure did. But I didn’t think I would end up loving a contemporary story this much. I have reread and rewatched the books and movies multiple times and thinking about it makes me want to dive back in right away.

9. Fence – C.S. Pacat & Johanna the Mad

I already mentioned this one in this post haha. Fence is a fantastic graphic novel series but I never thought I would love a story about fencing this much. It actually made me want to try fencing haha.

10. My Lady Jane – Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton & Jodi Meadows

Everyone was raving about this one when it was just released. And while I did want to read it, I put if off and off and off. I didn’t want to fall for the hype and didn’t think I would love it as much as everyone seemed to do. But when I finally did read it, I was mad at myself for waiting so long haha. This ended up being amazing and I was surprised at how much I laughed out loud!

These were 10 books that surprised me. And all in a good way haha. I really liked all of these. Have you read any of them? Did you like them? And which books surprised you when you read them? I would love to hear from you in the comments!